No Mistakes!: How You Can Change Adversity into Abundance

BY Madisyn Taylor, Sunny Dawn Johnston and HeatherAsh Amara

Have you ever wondered if there was any truth to the adage, "Everything happens for a reason"? Wonder no more. This is the book that demonstrates the truth in that old piece of conventional wisdom. Madisyn Taylor, Sunny Dawn Johnston, Heather Ash and twenty other motivational and inspirational authors and speakers explore how synchronicities, blessings, and miracles can be found even in the most seemingly daunting circumstances.

Written from the perspective that every experience that you have is designed to be an opportunity for growth, No Mistakes contains over twenty-five uplifting chapters, each contributed by a different author. Each story demonstrates in concretely how what appear to be dire circumstances are ultimately opportunity for blessings. Drawing on situations ranging from financial hardship, divorce, and even death of a loved one, these accounts leave no doubt that even in the darkest moments of our lives, a divine hand is at work.

For anyone traveling a rough road or experiencing difficulties, this will provide the fortitude to move ahead. There is indeed a silver lining behind every dark cloud.

EXCERPT

Life Is Not What It Seems
Christine Krinke, PhD

The sound of the rain against my bedroom window was hypnotic, and on this particular night I fell asleep almost before my head hit the pillow. I was deep asleep when suddenly something exploded into my room and landed on top of me. I screamed. The more desperately I tried to get away, the harder I kept getting knocked down, and I realized that no matter how hard I tried I could not get up. At the same time I was trying to make sense of what was happening, until eventually the back of my head was slammed into the headboard and I was in so much pain that I had to surrender.

My attacker told me to shut up or I would be killed. An intense, sharp pain brought my attention to my neck, where I felt the tip of a very large knife pressing against my throat. A new level of fear rose inside me as I was forced into another room and onto the floor.

By now sheer terror had overcome my entire being. I was afraid to breathe, let alone fight back. My shirt was pulled over my face and I could feel my hands being bound with rope. As I lay there on the cold, hard floor my adrenaline began to wear off and the pain started to overwhelm me.

Over the course of the next several hours I was raped and beaten. I was so far beyond any level of fear or pain at that point I just wanted the nightmare to be over. I had resigned to my fate.

With that very thought, every ounce of pain vanished and a sense of peace and calmness washed over me. I felt as though I could finally breathe. With that breath came the most indescribable feeling of weightlessness, love, and compassion. I was intensely aware of the change and tried desperately to process what was happening. My arms, legs, and body seemed fine. It just didn’t make any sense. Then in the midst of my confusion I heard a voice inside my head say that everything would be OK and that I was safe.

I looked around and saw angels everywhere. Below me, my body lay on the floor. I knew that body was mine, but it wasn’t me—in fact, I felt totally detached from it. At some point it became clear that I was alive, but not in the sense that I was familiar with. It didn’t matter that I had just been through the worst experience of my life. I was perfectly fine, surrounded by angels and more love than any one person could possibly imagine. I could feel a presence on either side of me. They had been speaking to me this whole time, trying to help me understand what was happening.

Off to the right of me the room opened up and I could see several angels standing in a group. As I wondered what was going on I was transported from where I was standing to being right in front of them. One angel stood out in front of the others and spoke to me on behalf of the group. I felt as though I knew them; they were as familiar as family or friends who had passed on, but I’d never seen any of them before in my life.

At nineteen years old, I was made aware that there was a lot that I needed to understand. Life was not really about what I believed it was. My life flashed before me, and I realized that I had been a pretty angry kid. I never wanted to be told what to do. I wanted to figure things out myself, but I was raised in a home that was like most others, where the adult told you what to do and you did what you were told with no questions asked. I felt unloved and that life was unfair. I was insecure and afraid of everything—afraid to try new things, afraid of looking stupid, afraid people would figure out I wasn’t worth having around.

Up until this point, I had walled off feelings of love because I never felt like I was enough. In truth, growing up was tough. I was very strong-willed and a constant source of frustration for my parents. I often felt like my parents didn’t love me, which wasn’t true, but it was my reality. Feeling this way caused me a lot of pain, which eventually turned to anger. As long as I was angry, no one would want to get too close to me. And as long as no one got too close, I wouldn’t have to worry about feeling the pain of not being loved.

I was able to see that my parents had gone through the same thing themselves as children, and their behavior was just part of a vicious cycle. There were generations of people thinking they weren’t good enough to be loved. Wow! How sad is that? All those misunderstandings and so many people’s lives affected. How different could things have been if even just one of those people had questioned what they thought was true?

The angels explained that we are loving beings and our purpose is to love—that is at the core of our being. We should love ourselves, our families, our friends—even people we do not know—because we are all one. We are connected in ways that we as humans cannot fully understand. You are me and I am you, and to be angry at you means that I also direct that anger at myself. To find fault in you means that I find fault in myself. We are not as different as we might think. We must learn to get past our fear and anger and open our hearts so that we may feel connected and loved.

I was shown what I believe was the rapist’s life. I saw how mean and angry his father was. I saw how badly the rapist was treated as a boy and I saw how his mother stood by while his father beat him. I understood that if his mother interfered, it would only result in a worse beating for the boy. I could also see that the boy did not realize that his mom was doing her best to keep him safe.

I was shown how the rapist’s life had become a series of choices which kept his pain in motion, and his mind gave him permission to inflict pain on others. I felt compassion for the little boy who didn’t know what love was. I felt sadness for the man who did not figure out how to break free from the cycle of pain that was his life. In short, I had been given clarity which allowed me the grace to let go of the anger I could have felt for the rest of my life for the man who changed my world that night.

As the angels were explaining the truth of love to me I began to realize how different my life could be. I understood the simple concept of intuition: if it doesn’t feel good inside something is off; something is not matching up with you on a soul level. When something is right it will resonate within. I needed to learn to trust my internal truth.

We were all born with an internal truth detector that can provide the answers to all our questions if we only know how to access it. If we would learn to trust what feels right to us we would have a much easier time in our human existence. Step one is to start by learning to love yourself. After that things will begin to fall into place.

I had the most horrible and the most incredible experience of my life all in the same night. What I learned is that no matter how awful the situation, good can come from it if you are willing to see beyond that one moment in time and somehow make your way to the truth. I now have concrete knowledge of the fact that life never ends! I have learned how to let go of anger and fear and trust my internal truth. And since that night, my intuition has never lead me in the wrong direction.

We are capable of so much more than we think. Once we open our heart and learn to love, anything is possible. And as I found out, we are never alone.